The only kind of traps available for getting rid of brown recluses, black widows and other spiders are glue traps, also known as glue boards or sticky boards. Their tiny size and ultralight weight make anything else a non-starter.
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How Do You Use Spider Glue Boards?
Location is the key to success as far as glue boards are concerned. You need to put them in the spider’s path where they normally travel.
If you don’t know where that is, it’s alright. Glue boards are usually inexpensive enough that you can afford to put a few of them around in random spots, to begin with.
Key areas inside the house for glue board placement are dark, quiet areas.
Spiders are predators, so they lurk and hide, waiting for their prey to come to them. A common trait among predators, they like to do their lurking and hiding in the dark.
After the glue boards or traps (the terms are interchangeable in this context) have been out for a day or two, go back and examine them.
The traps that are empty, or only have one or two spiders on them, are in the wrong place. The traps that have several spiders, or more!, are the ones that are in their normal pathway. This is where you need to concentrate your efforts.
Once you’ve determined their regularly traveled pathways, place glue boards along that route, spaced out several feet apart. Some glue boards have a Post-it Note-type sticky glue on the back of them so you can stick them on a wall or baseboard.
Feel free to place them like that. Spiders frequently travel along walls – so you should have some glue boards out where they will encounter them.
Read more: Click here to know how much spider exterminators cost.
Are there Any Electrical Traps for Spiders?
Unfortunately, there’s none!
There are electrical bug zappers for flying insects of course, and any spider dumb enough to wander into one of them will be killed just like flies and mosquitoes are, but there aren’t any electrical traps specifically designed for spiders.
Read more: Click here to learn more about mosquitoes.
What Should You Expect When Using Spider Glue Traps?
Once you’ve positioned them correctly, you’ll see spiders being caught on a fairly regular basis.
Because the trap is physical rather than chemical, there’s no way for them to develop an aversion to it the way insects do with baits.
Therefore the results should be very consistent over any period of weeks.
Did You Know
Since spiders are predators, they’re often attracted by the distress signals given off by trapped insects and other spiders. Instead of avoiding the traps they’ll come right into them.
Spider Traps We Reviewed
Check out our list below for a brief summary of our results. Keep on reading to learn more about each spider trap.
- Catchmaster Spider Traps
- Terro 3200 Spider Traps
- CatchMaster 724 Spider and Insect Glue Trap
- JT Eaton Spider Traps
- RESCUE! Non-Toxic Spider Trap
One warning though; keep your fingers off the glue on these boards!
Catchmaster Spider Traps
These glue traps by Catchmaster are specifically designed to catch spiders in the home. They can either be laid flat or folded to help protect children and pets from getting stuck to them.
Catchmaster Spider Traps are ideal for trapping spiders in attics, basements, and storage rooms. Also, they come in a set of 30 for widespread indoor monitoring and trapping of several pest types.
They are non-toxic and safe to use in any room. These specialty traps are made of 100 percent biodegradable material, so they won’t harm the environment.
Terro 3200 Spider Traps
Terro spider traps, or glue boards, are essentially the same as the Trapper ones. The design is a little bit different though. The glue smells different, but they’re basically the same thing and you use them the same way.
I’m a little frustrated when I hear people complaining about how glue boards (from any manufacturer) don’t work or don’t catch anything.
Yes, they do. But correct placement is the key.
If you’re having trouble catching anything in your traps, go back up and re-evaluate your strategy especially in determining the key places to place the boards/strips.
Terro did change the fold pattern on their traps for some reason. The new design is a bit awkward, but once you get used to it there won’t be any problems.
We’re also not fond of it because there are only 16 traps in the box. Sticky boards are cheap to manufacture. They should ship them by the gross (144).
CatchMaster 724 Spider and Insect Glue Trap
Baited glue boards for spiders are an interesting innovation.
Depending on the spider in question, they might work fairly well. That certainly seems to be the case with brown recluse spiders.
Brown recluses get their name from their appearance (they’re brown) and their habits (they’re very reclusive and like to hide) which makes killing them with standard insecticides a real problem.
A “ranch” in our area for troubled youth had several houses and one of them was eaten up with brown recluses. Three of us from our pest control company made over a dozen trips out there between us before we finally got them under control.
It was a huge headache, so a baited glue board that draws them out of hiding is a nice idea. We wish we had these before when we were facing that problem.
As of right now, the jury is still out on how well they work but we’re willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. It’s too bad they come in such small quantities though.
There is, however, the question of bait aversion developing. Bait aversion develops when a small percentage of a given insect population has an inherent, natural genetic aversion to the bait being used.
They become the ones most likely to survive and pass on their genes to their progeny, including their bait aversion. Eventually, the population will be composed primarily of bait-averse individuals and the bait will no longer work.
JT Eaton Spider Traps
JT Eaton Spider Traps are the gold standard for quality and reliability. Each trap contains a pheromone attractant to lure most species of spiders. With its strong adhesive glue, none will ever escape.
Set some out in storage rooms, basements, or wherever you see spider activity. You can either use them flattened for wider coverage or fold them into a tent for protection from moisture and debris.
They hold up well in all sorts of climate conditions, and they are guaranteed to last longer than other leading brands.
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